8 Tips for Beating Your Sales Goals in 2016

Prepare for takeoff!
Tips for
Beating Your
Sales Goals in 2016
Even small improvements in win rate can have a
huge impact on revenue. Based on findings
from The Top-Performing Sales Organization
Benchmark Report, The RAIN Group Center for
Sales Research has identified 8 key areas that
contribute to higher win rates that will help you
beat your sales goals and reach Top
Performer status in 2016.
Who are top
performers?
They are organizations that:
Have high win rates
Meet annual sales goals
Have challenging sales goals
Achieve maximum pricing
100%
Top Performers are
Top Performers
have a 62% win rate
2x
more likely to meet
their sales goals
The Rest have a
40% win rate
49%
1
get close to Your Customers
Top-Performing Sales Organizations are more likely to agree/strongly agree that their
sellers have expert customer knowledge and that their sales process is
customer-focused and flexible to apply to buyers’ various roles and situations.
+46%
+45%
Top Performers are 46%
more likely to agree that
their sellers have fluent,
expert knowledge of their
customers
+34%
Top Performers are 34%
more likely to agree that
their sales process is
flexible
Top Performers are 45%
more likely to agree that
their sales process is
customer-focused
52% of all respondents did not agree that
their sales process is customer-focused
2
invest in sales training
Given that they invest more heavily, and their sales training is more effective, it’s no
wonder Top Performers meet their sales goals and have higher win rates.
Top Performers are 63% more likely to
say they have a good or excellent
investment and focus on sales training
44%
and it’s effective!
27%
3
Top Performers are 2X
more likely to believe
their sales training is
very/extremely effective
Drive sales wins
Across every sales skill area we studied, Top Performers have significantly higher skills
than The Rest. The top sales skill of Top Performers:
68%
of Top Performers agree they
have the skills they need to drive
and win sales opportunities
(versus only 50% of the rest)
Organizations that focus on driving sales wins actually win more sales opportunities.
4
Focus on value
Most organizations talk about providing superior value to their customers, but few
actually create a culture for training sellers to be valuable and customer-focused.
Those who do:
Are more likely to grow revenue
90%
72%
61%
Have a higher win rate
54%
45%
81%
Have lower undesired sales turnover
81% of Top Performers focus on
driving maximum value
27%
39%
5
maximize sales to existing accounts
Educate your sellers so they can discover additional areas of opportunity in their
accounts and are able to sell the full capabilities of your organization.
TOP 4 SALES PRIORITIES
FOR 2016 OF 432 SALES LEADERS STUDIED
1
2
6
Improve customer retention,
repeat business, and renewals
4
Top performers make account
management a priority + they’re
better at it!
Improve ability to communicate
value
3
of 75 factors between Top Performers
and The Rest is ability to maximize
sales at existing accounts—61% vs. 32%
Increase business with existing
accounts
Improve sales opportunity
approach and planning
Set Challenging goals
Top-Performing Sales Organizations
aim higher and still achieve their goals.
100% of Top Performers meet
their sales goals.
82% of Top Performers say their
goals are challenging.
7
Discount less
48%
41%
Organizations that discount more than
50% of their sales opportunities win
only 41% of their sales compared to
48% of those who discount less frequently.
You’d think that if you discount more, you’d win more, but this is not
the case. Focus on your customer and providing value.
8
develop sales managers
Top-Performing Sales Organizations are more likely than The Rest to believe sales
management is more effective and productive.
and
reating
tive at c ellers
effec
ders are energy from s
and lea
rs
ing
Manage maximum sell
32%
ing
stain
su
ting
e at get
effectiv ellers
are
anagers
rom s
Sales m performance f
29%
m
maximu
he
imizes t
ent max ching
m
Manage spend coa
ers
manag
s
55%
43%
42%
time sale
28%
only 55%!
Even Top Performers have a
significant opportunity to
improve their sales
management effectiveness.
BECOME A TOP-PERFORMING SALES ORGANIZATION
To learn how you can beat your sales goals in 2016 and unlock your sales force
effectiveness, download our free white paper, Increase Win Rates and Beat Your
Sales Goals in 2016, at raingroup.com/win.
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www.raingroup.com
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(508) 405-0438